atoenne@exunido.uucp (Andreas Toenne) (01/16/91)
In article <7393@vanuata.cs.glasgow.ac.uk> kww@cs.glasgow.ac.uk (Dr Kevin Waite) writes: >Basically I am very disappointed with this release and with ParcPlace's >grasp of software engineering principles. Firstly, compared with >version 2.5 the documentation for R4 is appalling. Given that the Right. Documentation is not complete and comments are sometimes old or wrong. Hey! this is the first step. Do you remember 2.1 or 2.2 ? >graphics model has been drastically changed and that there is no other Take X11 as a reference. GraphicsContext is almost a copy of the X11 concepts. The color model is taken from some articles (some comments refer to them). >the form and bit editors have no equivalents in the new version. Why ? Use your platform editor and do copy/paste. I cannot imagine any biteditor worse than BitEditor in 2.5. >the removal of BOSS from the basic image to be a dreadful commercial >ploy. I am refusing to pay for the extra package just to get it. I agree. Andreas Toenne atoenne@unido.uucp
rueger@iml.fhg.de (Michael Rueger) (01/17/91)
In article <2941@laura.UUCP> A. Toenne writes: >>the removal of BOSS from the basic image to be a dreadful commercial >>ploy. I am refusing to pay for the extra package just to get it. >I agree. Me too. As we are currently developing a new simulator in Smalltalk heavily relying on BOSS (Filing in and out models, component runtime code etc.) I am much disappointed about PPS policy. Top of all, this developers package or whatever they will call it, seems not to be available right now (at least in Germany). Someone correct me, if this is not true. BTW, did anybody (Andreas ?) try to just use the old BOSS stuff within R4 ? What about license problems doing this ? (PPS are you listening ?). Michael Rueger rueger@iml.fhg.de P.S. This is my first posting, so please forgive any mistakes.
kww@cs.glasgow.ac.uk (Dr Kevin Waite) (01/17/91)
In article <2941@laura.UUCP>, atoenne@exunido.uucp (Andreas Toenne) writes: > > Right. Documentation is not complete and comments are sometimes old or > wrong. Hey! this is the first step. Do you remember 2.1 or 2.2 ? > > Take X11 as a reference. GraphicsContext is almost a copy of the X11 > concepts. The color model is taken from some articles (some comments > refer to them). > > Why ? Use your platform editor and do copy/paste. I cannot imagine any > biteditor worse than BitEditor in 2.5. > I would like to thank Andreas for his comments. However, comparing R4 documentation with that of 2.1 (which I did use) is not appropriate. The difference is that external documentation in the shape of the Red and Blue books did exist to supplement that supplied with 2.1. With 2.1 the MVC was largely undocumented. Just when decent texts appear describing it they go and some more attractive but undocumented features. I have always found one of Smalltalk's strengths to be its integrated, complete environment. Now I have to learn the mess of X to use its graphics. Personally I want to use OpenWindows as the host window manager and (as far as I know) this does not have a graphics editor. (Perhaps someone more knowledgeable could point me in the right direction). Kevin -- Email: kww@uk.ac.glasgow.cs (JANET) kww%cs.glasgow.ac.uk@nsfnet-relay.ac.uk (INTERNET) Address: Dr. Kevin Waite, Department of Computing Science, The University, Glasgow, United Kingdom. G12 8QQ